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COLONEL WASHINGTON 



COLONEL WASHINGTON 

BY 

Argher Butler Hulbert 
with maps and illustrations 



PUBLISUBD FROM THE InCOMI 

of: the' Francis 'G.^ Bdtlbr 
Publication Fund of West- 
ern Reserve ' University. 
1902 






THE L!SK^ftY OF 

CONGRESS, 
One Oorv Reoeive* 

JAN. 29 1903 

SOPVWQHT ENTHV 

CLASS a^ XXei No. 
COPY A. 



Entered according to Act of Congress 

in the year 1902 by 

ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress 

at Washington, D. C. 



NOTE. 

The following pages contain a glimpse of the youth 
Washington when he first stepped into public view. 
It is sai'd the President and General are known to us 
but "George Washington is an unknown man." 
Those, to whom the man is lost in the official, may 
well consider Edward Everett's oration in which the 
conduct of the youth Washington is carefully 
described— that the orator's audience might see "not 
an ideal hero, wrapped in cloudy generalities and a 
mist of vogue panegyric, but the real identical man." 

A. B. H. 

Marietta, Ohio, Nov. 28, 19()1. 



CONTENTS. 
I. 

A Prologue : The Governor's Envoy 

II. 

The Htory of the Campaign. 

III. 
Fort Neoeeaity and Its Hero. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Site of Fort Necessity 

The Route Through the Alleghanies, 

" Washington's Rock," 

Grrape Shot Found Near Fort Necessity 

Spark's Map of Fort Necessity 

Lewis's Map of Fort Necessity 

" Frontier Forts " Map 

Views of Remains of. Fort Necessity 

Diagrams of Fort Necessity 



Frontispiece 
Page 26 
34 
40 
42 
48 
50 
52 
54 



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COLONEL WASHINGTON, 



I. 

A PROLOGUE; THE GOVERNOR'S ENVOY. 

A thousand vague rumors came over the Allegheny 
mountains during the year 1753 to Governor Dinwiddle 
of Virginia, of French aggressions into the Ohio River 
valley, the more alarming because vague and uncertain. 

Orders were soon at hand from London authorizing 
the Virginian Governor to erect a fort on the Ohio 
which would hold that river for England and tend to 
conciliate the Indians to English rule. But the Gov- 
ernor was too much in the dark as to the operations of 
the French to warrant any decisive step, and he im- 
mediately cast about him for an envoy whom he could 
trust to find out what was really happening in the val- 
ley of the Ohio. 

Who was to be this envoy? The mission called for 
a person of unusual capacity ; a diplomat, a soldier and 
a frontiersman. Five hundred miles were to be 
threaded on Indian trails in the dead of winter. This 
was woodman's work. There were cunning Indian 
chieftains and French officers, trained to intrigue, to 
be met, influenced, conciliated. This, truly, demand- 
ed a diplomat. There were forts to be marked and 

1 



mapped, highways of approach to be considered and 
compared, vantage sites on river and mountain to be 
noted and valued. This was work for a soldier and a 
strategist. 

After failing to induce one or two gentlemen to un- 
dertake this perilous but intrinsically important task, 
the services of a youthful Major George Washington, 
one of the four adjutant-generals of Virginia, were 
offered, and the despairing Scotch Governor, whose 
zeal always approached rashness, accepted them. 

But there was something more to the credit of this 
audacious youth than his temerity. The best of Vir- 
ginian blood ran in his veins, and he had shown already 
a taste for adventurous service quite in line with such 
a hazardous business. Acquiring, when a mere lad, a 
knowledge of mathematics, he had gone surveying in 
Lord Fairfax's lands on the south branch of the Po- 
tomac. There he spent the best of three years, far be- 
yond the settled limits of Virginia, fortifying his splen- 
did physique against days of stress to come. In other 
ways this life on his country's frontier was of advan- 
tage. Here he had met the Indians — that race upon 
which no rran ever wielded a greater influence than 
Washington. Here he learned to know frontier life, 
its charms, its deprivations, its fears and its toils — a 
life for which he was ever to entertain so much sympa- 
thy and so much consideration. Here he studied the 
Indian traders, a class of men of much more impor- 
tance, in peace or war, than any or all others in the bor- 
der land ; men whose motives of action were as hard to 
read as an Indian's, and whose flagrant and oft prac- 
ticed deceptions on their fellow white men were 
fraught with disaster. 

2 



It was of utmost fortune for his country that this youth 
went into the West in his teens, for he was to be, under 
Providence, a champion of that West worthy of its in- 
fluence on human affairs. Thus he had come to it early 
and loved it ; he learned to know its value, to foresee 
something of its future, to think for and with its pio- 
neer developers, to study its roads and rivers and port- 
ages : thus he was fortified against narrow purposes, and 
made as broad in his sympathies and ambitions as the 
great West was broad itself. No statesman of his day 
came to know and believe in the West as Washington 
did ; and it is not difficult to think that had he not 
so known and loved it, the territory west of the Alle- 
gheny mountains would never have become a portion 
of the United States of America. There were far too 
many serious men like Thomas Jefferson who knew 
little about the West and boasted that they cared less. 
Yet today the seaboard states are more dependent com- 
mercially and politically on the states between the 
Alleghenies and Mississippi than are these central com- 
monwealths dependent on them. 

The same divine Providence which directed this 
youth's steps into the Alleghenies had brought him 
speedily to his next post of duty, for family influence 
secured him an appointment as adjutant-general (with 
rank of major) over one of the four military districts 
into which Virginia had been divided for purposes of 
defense, a position for which he was as fitted by incli- 
nation as by frontier experience. 

This lad now received Dinwiddie's appointment. As 
a practical surveyor in the wilderness he possessed the 
frontiersman's qualifications; as an apt and diligent 
Btudent of military science, with a brother — trained 

8 



under Admiral Vernon — as a practical tutor, he had in 
a degree a soldier's qualifications ; if not a diplomat, he 
was as shrewd a lad as chivalrous old Virginia had 
within her borders ; still, at twenty-one, that boy of 
the sixty maxims, but hardened, steadied and made ex- 
ceeding thoughtful by his life on Virginia's great black 
forest-bound horizon. His keen eyes, quick percep- 
tion and daring spirit were now to be turned to some- 
thing of more moment than a tripod's reading or a 
shabby line of Virginia militia. All in all, he was 
far better fitted for this mission than anyone could 
have known or guessed. 

It is not to be doubted that George Washington knew 
the dangers he courted, at least very much better than 
we can appreciate them today. He had not lived three 
years on the frontier for nothing. He had heard of 
these French — of their bold invasion of the West, their 
growing trade, their cunning conciliation of the Indian, 
their sudden passion for fort building when they heard 
of the grant of land to the Ohio Company to which his 
brothers belonged. Who can doubt that he looked 
with envious eyes upon those fearless fleets of coureur 
de bois and their woodland pilgrimaging ; who can 
doubt that the few stolid English traders who went 
over the mountains on poor Indian ponies made a sorry 
showing beside the roistering, picturesque, irrepres- 
sible Frenchmen who knew and sailed those sweet, 
clear rivers that flowed through the dark, green forests 
of the great West? But the forests were filled with 
their sly, redskinned proselytes. One swift rifle ball 
might easily be sent from a hidden covert to meet the 
stripling envoy from the English who had come to spy 
out the land and report both its giants and its grapes. 

4 



Yet after one day's preparation he was ready to leave 
a home rich in comfort and culture, a host of warm 
friends, and bury himself six hundred miles deep in 
the western forests, to sleep on the ground in the dead 
of winter, wade rivers running with ice and face a 
hundred known and a thousand unknown risks. 

"Faith, you're a brave lad," broke out the old Scotch 
Governor, "and, if you play your cards well, you shall 
have no cause to repent your bargain," and the Major 
Washington departed from Williamsburg on the last 
day of October, but one, 1753. The first sentence in 
the Journal he now began suggests his avidity and 
promptness: "I was commissioned and appointed by 
the Honourable Robert Dinwiddie, Esq; Governor, &c oi 
Virginia, to visit and deliver a Letter to the Command- 
ant of the French Forces on the Ohio, and set out on 
the intended Journey the same Day." At Fredericks- 
burg he employed his old fencing tutor, Jacob van 
Braam, as his interpreter, and pushed on westward 
over the new road built by the Ohio Company to Will's 
Creek (Fort Cumberland, Maryland) on the upper Po- 
tomac, where he arrived November 14th. 

Will's Creek was the last Virginian outpost, where 
Fort Cumberland was soon erected. Already the Ohio 
Company had located a store house at this point. On- 
ward the Indian trail wound in and out through the Al- 
leghenies, over the successive ranges known as Wills', 
Savage and Meadow Mountains. From the latter it 
dropped down into Little Meadows. Here in the open 
ground, covered with rank grasses, the first of the west- 
ern waters was crossed, a branch of the Youghiogeny 
River. From "Little Crossings," as the ford was 
called, the narrow trail vaulted Negro Mountain and 

6 



came down upon the upper Youghiogeny, this ford here 
being named "Big Crossings." Another climb over 
Briery Mountain brought the traveller down into Great 
Meadows, the largest tract of open land in the Alle- 
ghenies. By a zig-zag climb of five miles the summit 
of the last of the Allegheny ranges — Laurel Hill — was 
reached, where the path turned northward and followed 
the line of hills, by Christopher Gist's clearing on what 
is known as Mount Braddock, toward the lower Youg- 
hiogeny, at "Stewart's Crossing." Thence the trail 
ran down the point of land where Pittsburg now 
lies in its clouds of smoke between the "Forks of the 
Ohio." 

This trace of the buffalo and portage path of the In- 
dian had no name until it took that of a Delaware In- 
dian, Nemacolin, who blazed its course, under the di- 
rection of Captain Thomas Cresap, for the Ohio Com- 
pany. To those who love to look back to beginnings, 
and read great things in small, this Indian path, with 
its border of wounded trees, leading across the first 
great divide into the central west, is worthy of contem- 
plation. Each tree starred whitely by the Indian's axe 
spoke of Saxon conquest and commerce, one and insep- 
arable. In every act of the great world-drama now on 
the boards this little trail with its blazed trees lies in 
the foreground. 

And the rise of the curtain shows the lad Washing- 
ton and his party of seven horsemen, led by the bold 
guide Christopher Gist, setting out from Will's Creek 
on the 15th of November, 1753. The character of the 
journey is nowhere better described than in Washing- 
ton's words when he engaged Gist's services: "I en- 
gaged Mr. Gist to pilot us out." 

6 



It proved a rough voyage 1 A fierce, early winter 
came out of the north, as though in league with the 
French to intimidate, if not drive back, these spies of 
French aggression. It rained and snowed, and the lit- 
tle roadway became well nigh impassable. The brown 
mountain ranges, which until recently had been burn- 
ished with the glory of a mountain autumn, were wet 
and black. Scarce eighteen miles were covered a day, 
a whole week being exhausted in reaching the Monon- 
gahela. But this was not altogether unfortunate. A 
week was not too long for the future Father of the West 
to study the hills and valleys which were to bear for- 
ever the precious favor of his devoted and untiring zeal. 
And in this week this youth conceived a dream and a 
purpose, the dearest, if not the most dominant, of his 
life — the union, commercial as well as political, of the 
East and the West. Yet he passed Great Meadows 
without seeing Fort Necessity, Braddock's Run with- 
out seeing Braddock's unmarked grave, and Laurel Hill 
without a premonition of the covert in the valley be- 
low, where shortly he should shape the stones above a 
Frenchman's grave. But could he have seen it all — 
the wasted labor, nights spent in agony of suspense, 
humiliation, defeat and the dead and dying — would it 
have turned him back? 

The first roof to offer Washington hospitable shelter 
was the cabin of the trader Frazier at the mouth of 
Turtle Creek, on the Monongahela, near the death-trap 
where soon that desperate horde of French and Indiana 
should put to flight an army five times its own number. 
Here information was at hand, for it was none other 
than this Frazier who had been driven from Venango 
but a few weeks before by the French force sent there 

7 



to build a fort. Joncaire was spending the winter in 
Frazier's old cabin, and no doubt the young Virginian 
heard this irrepressible French officer's title read clear 
in strong German oaths. Here too was a Speech, with 
a string of wampum accompanying, on its way from 
the anti-French Indians on the Ohio to Governor Din- 
widdle, bringing the ominous news that the Chippewas, 
Ottawas and Wyandots had taken up the hatchet 
against the English. 

Washington took the Speech and the wampum and 
pushed on undismayed. Sending the baggage down 
the Monongahela by boat he pushed on overland to the 
"Forks" where he chose a site for a fort, the future 
site, first, of Fort Duquesne, and later. Fort Pitt. But 
his immediate destination was the Indian village of 
Loggstown, fifteen miles down the Ohio. On his way 
thither he stopped at the lodge of Shingiss, a Delaware 
King, and secured the promise of his attendance upon 
the council of anti-French (though not necessarily pro- 
English) Indians. For this was the Virginian envoy's 
first task — to make a strong bid for the allegiance of 
the redmen ; it was not more than suggested in his in- 
structions, but was none the less imperative, as he well 
knew whether his superiors did or not. 

It is extremely difficult to construct anything like a 
clear statement of Indian affiliations at this crisis. 
This territory west of the Alleghenies, nominally pur- 
chased from the Six Nations, was claimed by the Shaw- 
anese and Delawares who had since come into it, and 
also by many fugitives from the Six Nations, known 
generally as Mingoes, who had come to make their 
hunting grounds their home. Though the Delaware 
King was only a "Half-King" (because subject to the 

8 



Council of the Six Nations) yet they claimed the land 
and had even resisted French encroachment. "Half- 
King" and his Delawares believed that the English only 
desired commercial intercourse and favored them as com- 
pared with the French who had already built forts in 
the West. The northern nations who were nearer the 
French soon surrendered to their blandishments ; and 
soon the Delawares (called Loups by the French) and 
the Shawanese were overcome by French allurements 
and were generally found about the French forts and 
forces. In the spring of the year Half King had gone 
to Presque Isle and spoken firmly to Marin, declaring 
that the land was not theirs but the Indians'. 

Insofar as the English were more backward than the 
French in occupying the land the unprejudiced Dela- 
wares and Mingoes were inclined to further English 
plans. When, a few years later, it became clear that 
the English cared not a whit for the rights of the red- 
men, the latter hated and fought them as they never 
had the French. Washington was well fitted for hand- 
ling this delicate matter of sharpening Indian hatred 
of the French and of keeping very still about English 
plans. 

Here at Loggstown unexpected information was re- 
ceived. Certain French deserters from the Mississippi 
gave the English envoy a description of French opera- 
tions on that river between New Orleans and Illinois. 
The latter word "Illinois" was taken by Washington's 
old Dutch interpreter to be the French words "/s?e 
Noire, ' ' and Washington speaks of Illinois as the ' 'Black 
Islands" in his Journal. But this was not to be old 
van Braam's only blunder in the role of interpreter! 

Half King was ready with the story of his journey 

9 



to Presque Isle, which, he affirmed, Washington could 
not reach "in less than five or six nights' sleep, good 
traveling." Little wonder, at such a season, a jour- 
xiey was measured by the number of nights to be spent 
in the frozen forests ! Marin's answer to Half King 
was not less spirited because of his own dying condition. 
The Frenchman frankly stated that two English trad- 
ers had been taken to Canada ^Ho get intelligence of 
what the English were doing in Virginia.'*^ So far as In- 
dian possession of the land was concerned Marin was 
quickly to the point : " You say this Land belongs to yoUj 
but there is not the Black of my Nail yours. I saw that 
Land sooner than you did, before the Shannoahs and you 
were at War: Lead was the Man who went down, and 
took Possession of that River: It is my Land, and I will 
have it, let who will stand-up for, or say-against, it. IHl 
buy and sell with the English, (mockingly). If People 
will be ruVd by me, they may expect Kindness, but not else.^'' 
La Salle had gone down the Ohio and claimed possession 
of it long before Delaware or Shawanese, Ottawa or 
Wyandot had built a single fire in the valley I The 
claim of the 'Six Nations, only, antedated that of the 
French — but the Six Nations had sold their claim to 
the English for 400 pounds at Lancaster in 1744. And 
there was the rub ! 

At the Council on the following day (26th), Washing- 
ton delivered an address, asking for guides and guards 
on his trip up the Allegheny and Riviere aux Boeufs, 
adroitly implying, in word and gesture, that his audi- 
ence was the warmest allies of the English and equally 
desirous to oppose French aggression. The Council 
was for granting each request but the absence of the 
hunters necessitated a detention ; undoubtedly fear of 

10 



the French also provoked delay and counselling. Lit- 
tle wonder : Washington would soon be across the moun- 
tain again and the rough Frenchman who claimed even 
the earth beneath his finger nails and had won over 
Ottawas, Chippewas, and fierce Wyandots, would make 
short work with those who housed and counselled with 
the English envoy I And — perhaps more ominous than 
all — Washington did not announce his business in the 
West, undoubtedly fearing the Indians would not aid 
him if they knew it. When at last they asked the 
nature of his mission he answered just the best an 
honest-hearted lad could. "This was a Question I all 
along expected," he wrote in his Joitniai, "and had 
provided as satisfactory Answers to, as I could ; which 
allayed their Curiosity a little." This youthful diplo- 
mat would have allayed the burning curiosity of hun- 
dreds of others had he mentioned the reasons he gave 
those suspicious chieftains for this five-hundred-mile 
journey in the winter season to a miserable little French 
fort on the Riviere aux Boeuf s ! It is safe to assume 
that could he have given the real reasons he would 
have been saved the difficulty of providing "satisfac- 
tory" ones. 

For four days Washington remained, but on the 30th. 
he set out northward accompanied only by the faith- 
ful Half King and three other Indians, and five days 
later ( after four "nights sleep") the party ar- 
rived at the mouth of the Riviere aux Boeufs where 
Joncaire was wintering in Frazier's cabin. The seven- 
ty miles from Loggstown were traversed at about the 
same poor rate as the one hundred and twenty five from 
Will's Creek. To Joncaire's cabin, over which floated the 
French flag, the Virginian envoy immediately repaired. 

11 



He was received with much courtesy, though, as he well 
knew, Legardeur de St Piei e, at Fort La Boeuf , the suc- 
cessor to the dead Marin, was the French commandant 
to whom his letter from Dinwiddle must go. 

However Washington was treated "with the greatest 
Complaisance" by Joncaire. During the evening the 
Frenchmen "dosed themselves pretty plentifully," 
wrote the sober, keen-eyed Virginian, "and gave a 
Licence to their Tongues. They told me. That it was 
their absolute Design to take Possession of the Ohio, 
and by G — they would do it : For that altho' they 
were sensible the English could raise two Men for their 
one ; yet they knew, their Motions were too slow and 
dilatory to prevent any Undertaking of theirs." For 
a true picture of the man Washington (who is said tc 
be forgotten) what one would be chosen before this : 
the youth sitting before the log fire in an Englishman's 
cabin, from which the French had driven its owner, on 
the Allegheny river; about him sit leering, tipsy Gauls, 
bragging, with oaths, of a conquest they were never to 
make; dress him for a five-hundred-mile ride through 
a wilderness in winter, and rest his sober eyes thought- 
fully upon the crackling logs while oaths and boasts 
and the rank smell of foreign liquor fill the 
heavy air. No picture could show better the three 
commanding traits of this youth who was father of the 
man : hearty daring, significant, homespun shrewd- 
ness, dogged, resourceful patience. Basic traits of char- 
acter are often displayed involuntarily in the efferves- 
cence of youthful zest. These this lad had shown and 
was showing in this brave ride into a dense wilderness 
and a braver inspection of his country's enemies, their 
works, their temper, and their boasts. Let thie pic- 

12 



ture hang on the walls of every home where the lad in 
the fore-ground before the blazing logs is unknown save 
in the role of the general or statesman he became in 
later life. 

How those French oflScers must have looked this tall, 
stern boy up and down 1 How they enjoyed sneering 
in his face at English backwardness in coming over the 
Alleghenies into the great West which their explorers 
had honeycombed with a thousand swift canoes 1 As 
they even plotted his assassination, how, in turn, that 
young heart must have burned to stop their mouths 
with his hand. Little wonder that when the time came 
his voice first ordered "Fire," and his finger first pulled 
the trigger in the great war which won the west from 
those bragging Frenchmen I 

But with the boasts came no little information con- 
cerning the French operations on the great lakes, the 
number of their forts and men. Washington did not 
get off for Fort La Boeuf the next day for the weather 
was exceedingly rough. This gave the wily Joncaire 
a chance to tamper with his Indians, and the opportun- 
ity was not neglected I Upon learning that Indians 
were in the envoy's retinue he professed great regret 
that Washington had not "made free to bring them in 
before." The Virginian was quick with a stinging re- 
tort : for since he had heard Joncaire "say a good deal in 
Dispraise of the Indians in general" he did not "think 
their Company agreeable." But Joncaire had his way 
and "applied the Loquor so fast,''' that lo I the poor In- 
dians "were soon rendered incapable of the Business 
they came about." 

In the morning Half King came to Washington's 
tent hopefully sober but urging that another day be 

13 



spent at Venango since "the Management of the Indians 
Affairs was left solely to Monsieur Joncaire.''^ To this 
the envoy reluctantly acquiesced. But on the day af- 
ter the embassy got on its way, thanks to Christopher 
Gist's influence over the Indians. When Joncaire found 
them going, he forwarded their plans "in the heartiest 
way in the world" and detailed Monsieur la Force 
(with whom this Virginian was to meet under different 
circumstances inside half a yearl) to accompany them. 
Four days were spent in floundering over the last sixty 
miles of this journey, the party being driven into "Mires 
and Swamps" to avoid crossing the swollen Riviere 
aux Boeufs. On the 11th of December Washington 
reached his destination, having traveled over 500 miles 
in forty-two days. 

Legardeur St. Piere, the one-eyed commander at 
Fort La Boeuf , had arrived but one week before Wash- 
ington. To him the Virginian envoy delivered Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddle's letter the day after his arrival. Its 
contents read : 

"Sir," 

The Lands upon the River Ohio, in the Western 
Farts of the Colony of Virginia, are so notoriously known to be 
the Property of the Crown of Great- Britain; that it is a Mat- 
ter of equal Concern and Surprise to me, to hear that a Body 
of French Forces are erecting Fortresses, and making Settle- 
ments upon that River, within his Majesty's Dominions. 

The many and repeated Complaints I have received of 
these Acts of Hostility, lay me under the Necessity, of send- 
ing, in the Name of the King my Master, the Bearer hereof, 
George Washington, Esq; one of the Adjutants General of the 
Forces of this Dominion ; to complain to yoa of the Encroach- 
ments thus made, and of the Injuries done to the Subjects of 
Great- Britain, in the open Violation of che Law of Nations, 
and the Treaties now subsisting between the two Crowns. 

If these Facts are true, and you shall think fit to justify 
your Proceedings, I must desire you to acquaint me, by 
whose Authority and Instructions you have lately marched 
from Canada, with an armed Force ; and invaded the King of 

14 



a^T^;^^'*'^''r'\^^T*^"^'' ^" *^^ Manner complained of? that 
according to the Purport and Resolution of your Answer I 

tTe^K^ngi^^fi^^"' Commission I am honored withr^/oi 
However, Sir, in Obedience to my Instructions, it becomes 

wonH /n.h'' '"^"^'^ y^^-' peaceable Departure ; and that you 
would forbear prosecuting a P.irpose so interruptive of the 
Harmony and good Understanding, which his Majesty is de! 
sirous to continue and cultivate with the most^ Chris tfan 

jj ^^^^^^^^ myself you will receive and entertain Maior 
T7a.to^^o^ with the Candour and Politeness Safural to yjur 

rpfnrn \- 'Ku'^^ ^/^^ "^^ ^^^ greatest Satisfaction, if you 
return him with an Answer suitable to my Wishes for a very 

scdbe mys^elf ""^ ""^ ^^^'^^^'^ '''• ^ ^^^^ *^^ ^^^^"^ ^« «"b- 



SIR, 
Your most obedient, 

Humble Servant, 
Robert Dinwiddie, 



}} 



While an answer was being prepared the envoy had 
an opportunity to take careful note of the fort and its 
hundred defenders. The fortress which Washington 
carefully described in his Journal was not so significant 
as the host of canoes along the river shore. It 
was French canoes the English feared more than 
French forts. The number at Fort La Boeuf at this 
time was over two hundred, and others were being 
made. ^ And every stream flowed south to the land 
"notoriously known" to belong to the British Crown I 
On the 14th. Washington was planning his home- 
ward trip. His horses, lacking proper nourishment, 
exhausted by the hard trip northward, were totally unl 
fit for service, and were at once set out on the road to 
Venango, since canoes had been offered the little embas- 
sy for the return trip. Anxious as Washington was to be 
off, neither his business nor that of Half King's had 
been forwarded with any celerity until now; but this 
day Half King secured an audience with St. Piere and 

15 



offered him the wampum which was promptly refused, 
though with many protestations of friendship and an 
offer to send a load of goods to Loggstown. Every ef- 
fort possible was being put forth to alienate Half King 
and the Virginian frankly wrote : "I can't say that ever 
in my Life I suffered so much Anxiety as I did in this 
Affair." This day and the next the French officers out 
did themselves in hastening Washington's departure 
and retarding Half King's. At last Washington com- 
plained frankly to St. Piere, who denied his duplicity 
— and doubled his bribes I But on the day following 
Half King was lured away, Venango being reached 
in six long days, a large part of the time being spent 
in dragging the canoes over icy shoals. 

Four days were spent with Joncaire, when abandon- 
ing both horses and Indians, Washington and Gist 
set out alone and afoot by the shortest course to the 
Forks of the Ohio. It was a daring alternative but al- 
together the preferable one. At Murdering Town, a fit 
place for Joncaire's assassin to lie in wait, some French 
Indians were overtaken, one of whom offered to 
guide the travelers across to the Forks. At the first 
good chance he fired upon them, was disarmed and 
sent away. The two, building a raft, reached an 
island in the Allegheny after heroic suffering but were 
unable to cross to the eastern shore until the follow- 
ing morning. Then they passed over on the ice which 
had formed and went directly to Frazier's cabin. 
There they arrived December 29th. On the first day 
of the new year, 1754, Washington set out for Virginia. 
On the sixth he met seventeen horses loaded with ma- 
terials and stores, "for a Fort at the Forks of the Ohio^ 
Governor Dinwiddle, indefatigable if nothing else, had 

16 



commissioned Captain Trent to raise a company of 

an hundred men to erect a fort on the Ohio for the 

protection of the Ohio Company. 

On the sixteenth of January the youthful envoy 

rode again into Williamsburg, one month from the day 

he left Fort La Boeuf . St. Piere's reply to Governor 

Dinwiddle's letter read as follows : 

''SIR, 

As I have the Honour of commanding here in Chief, 
Mr. Washington delivered me the Letter which you wrote to 
the Commandant of the French Troops. 

I should have been glad that you had given him Orders, or 
that he had been inclined to proceed to Canada, to see our 
General; to whom it better belongs than to me to set-forth 
the Evidence and Reality of the Rights of the King, my 
Master, upon the Lands situated along the River Ohio, and to 
contest the Pretentions of the King of Great-Britain thereto. 

I shall transmit your Letter to the Marquis Duguisne. His An- 
swer will be a Law to me ; and if he shall order me to commun- 
icate it to you, Sir, you may be assured I shall not fail to 
dispatch it to you forthwith. 

As to the Summons you send me to retire, I do not think 
myself obliged to obey it. What-ever may be your Instruc- 
tions, I am here by Virtue of the Orders of my General ; and 
I entreat you, Sir, not to doubt one Moment, but that I am 
determin'd to conform myself to them with all theExactness 
and Resolution which can be expected from the best OflScer. 

I don't know that in the Progress of this Campaign any 
Thing has passed which can be reputed an Act of Hostility, or 
that is contrary to the Treaties which subsist between the two 
Crowns ; the Continuation whereof as much interests, and is 
as pleasing to us, as the English. Had you been pleased, Sir, 
to have descended to particularize the Facts which occasioned 
your^Complaint, I should have had the Honour of answering you 
in the fullest, and, I am persuaded, most satisfactory Manner. 

I made it my particular Care to receive Mr Washiiigton, with 
a Distinction suitable to your Dignity, as well as his own Qual- 
ity and great Merit. I flatter myself that he will do me this 
Justice before you, Sir ; and that he will signify to you in the 
Manner I do myself, the profound Respect with which I am, 

SIR, 

Your most humble, and 
most obedient Servant, 
Leqardeur de St. Piere." 

Washington found the Governor's council was to 

17 



meet the day following and that his report was desired. 
Accordingly he rewrote his Journal from the "rough 
minutes" he had made. From any point of view this 
document of ten thousand words, hastily written by 
a lad of twenty-one who had not seen a school desk 
since his seventeenth year, is far more creditable and 
remarkable than any of the feats of physical endur- 
ance for which the lad is idolized by the youthful read- 
ers of our school histories. It is safe to say that many 
a college bred man of today could not prepare from 
rough notes such a succinct and polite document as 
did this young surveyor, who had read few books and 
studied neither his own nor any foreign language. The 
author did not "in the least conceive * * * that it 
would ever be published." Speaking afterward of its 
"numberless imperfections" he said that all that could 
recommend it to the public was its truthfulness of 
fact. Certain features of this first literary work of 
Washington's are worthy of remark : his frankness, as 
in criticising Shingiss' village as a site] for a fort as 
proposed by the Ohio Company ; his exactness in giv- 
ing details (where he could obtain them) of forts, men, 
and guns ; his estimates of distances ; his wise conform- 
ing to Indian custom ; his careful note of the time of day 
of important events ; his frequent observations of the 
kinds of the land through which he passed; his 
knowlege of Indian character. 

This mission prosecuted with such rare tact and 
skill was an utter failure, considered from the stand- 
point of its nominal purpose. St. Piere's letter was 
firm, if not defiant. Yet Dinwiddie, despairing of 
French withdrawal, had secured the information he 
desired. Already the French had reached the Forks 

18 



of the Ohio where an English fort was being erected. 
Peaceful measures were exhausted with the failure of 
Washington's embassy. 

England's one hope was — war. 



19 



II. 

THE STORY OF THE CAMPAIGN. 

No literary production of a youth of twenty-one ever 
electrified the world as did the publication of the 
Journal of this dauntless envoy of the Virginian Gov- 
ernor. No young man more instantly sprang into the 
notice of the world than George Washington. The 
Journal was copied far and wide in the newspapers of 
the other colonies. It sped across the sea, and was 
printed in London by the British government. In a 
manly, artless way it told the exact situation on the 
Ohio frontier and announced the first positive proof 
the world had had of hostile French aggression into 
the great river valley of the West. Despite certain 
youthful expressions, the prudence, tact, capacity and 
modesty of the author were recognized by a nation and 
by a world. 

Without waiting for the House of Burgesses to con- 
vene, Governor Dinwiddle's Council immediately ad- 
vised the enlistment of two hundred men to be sent to 
build forts on the Monongahela and Ohio rivers. The 
business of recruiting two companies of one hundred 
men each was given to the tried though youthful Major 
Washington, since they were to be recruited from the 
northern district over which he had been adjutant-gen- 
eral. His instructions read as follows : 

20 



'^ Instruct s to he observed by Mafr Geo. WashingtoUy on 
the ExpediVn to the Ohio. 



««i 



'Maj'r Geo. Washington: You are forthwith to repair to 
the Co'ty of Frederick and thereto take under Y'r <'om'd 
50 Men of the Militia who will be deliver'd to You by the 
Comd'r of the s'd Co'ty pursuant to my Orders. You are to 
send Y'r Lieut, at the same Time to the Co'ty of Augusta, to 
receive 50 Men from the Comd'r of that Co'ty as I have 
order'd, and with them he is to join You at Alexandria, to 
which Place You are to proceed as soon as You have rec'd 
the Men in Frederick. Having rec'd the Detachm't, You are 
to train and discipline them in the best Manner You can, and 
for all Necessaries You are to apply Y'rself to Mr. Jno. Carlisle 
at Alex'a who has my Orders to supply You. Having all Things 
in readiness You are to use all Expedition in proceeding to 
the Fork of Ohio with the Men under Com'd and there you 
are to finish and compleat in the best Manner and as soon as 
You possibly can, the Fort w'ch I expect is there already 
begun by the Ohio Comp'a. You are to act on the Defensive, 
but in Case any Attempts are made to obstruct the Works or 
interrupt our Settlem'ts by any Persons whatsoever You are 
to restrain all such Offenders, and in Case of resistance to 
make Prisoners of or kill and destroy them. For the rest You 
are to conduct Y'rself as the Circumst's of the Service shall 
require and to act as You shall find best for the Further- 
ance of His M'y's Service and the Good of His Dom'n. Wish- 
ing You Health and Success I bid you Farewell." 

The general command of the expedition was given to 
Colonel Joshua Fry, formerly professor of mathematics 
in William and Mary College and a geographer and In- 
dian commissioner of note. His instructions were as 
follows : 
^ *■ Instruction' s to Joshua Fry, Esqr.^ Colo, and the ComW- 

in- Chief of the Virg^a Regiment. 

March, 1754. 

"Sir: The Forces under Y'r Com'd are rais'd to protect our 
frontier Settlements from the incursions of the French and the 
Ind's iu F'dship with them. I therefore desire You will 
with all possible Expedition repair to Alexandria on the Head 
of the Poto. River, and there take upon You the com'd of the 
Forces accordingly ; w'ch I Expect will be at that Town the 
Middle of next Mo. You are to march them to will's Creek, 
above the Falls of P.»to. from thence with the Great Guns, 
Amunit'n and Provisions. You are to proceed to Monongahela, 
when ariv'd there, you are to make Choice of the best Place 

21 



to erect a Fort for mounting y*r Cannon and ascertain^g His 
M'y the King of G. B's undoubt'd right to those Lands. My 
Orders to You is to be on the Defensive and if any foreign 
Force sh'd come to annoy You or interrupt Y'r quiet Settlem't, 
and building the Fort as afores'd, You are in that Case to repre- 
sent to them the Powers and Orders You have from me, and I 
desire they w'd imediately retire and not to prevent You in 
the discharge of your Duty. If they sh'd continue to be ob- 
stinate after your desire to retire, you are then to repell Force 
by Force. I expect a Number of the Southern Indians will 
join you on this expedit'n, w'ch with the Indians on the Ohio, 
I desire You will cultivate a good Understanding and Corres- 
pondence with, supplying them with what Provisions and other 
Necessaries You can spare; and write to Maj'r Carlyle w'n 
You want Provisions, who has my Orders to purchase and 
Keep a proper Magazine for Your dem'ds. Keep up a good 
Com'd and regular Discipline, inculcate morality and Courage 
in Y'r Soldiers that they may answer the Views on w'ch they 
are rais'd. You are to constitute a Court Martial of the Chief 
of Your Officers, with whom You are to advise and consult on 
all Affairs of Consequence ; and as the Fate of this Expedition 
greatly depends on You, from the Opinion I have of Your good 
Sense and Conduct, I refer the Management of the whole to 
You with the Advice of the Court Martial. Sincerely recom- 
mending You to the Protection of God, wishing Success to 
our just Designs, I heartily wish You farewell." 

This expedition was in no sense the result of gen- 
eral agitation against French encroachment. And, 
as in Virginia, so it was ni other colonies to which 
Governor Dinwiddie appealed ; the Governors said they 
had received no instructions ; the validity of English 
title to the lands upon which the French were alleged 
to have encroached was doubted ; no one wished to pre- 
cipitate a war through rash zeal. 

Before the bill voting ten thousand pounds **for the 
encouragement and protection of the settlers on the Mis- 
sissippi," as it was called, passed the House of Burgess- 
es, Governor Dinwiddie had his patience well-nigh ex- 
hausted, but he overlooked both the doubts raised as to 
England's rights in the West, and personal slights, and 
signed the bill which provided the expenses of this 
memorable expedition of the Virginia Regiment in 1754. 

22 



Major Washington was located at Alexandria, on the 
upper Potomac, in February where he superintended 
the rendezvous and the transportation of supplies and 
cannon. It was found necessary to resort to impress- 
ments to raise the required quota of men. As early aa 
February 19th, so slow were the drafts and enlistments, 
Governor Dinwiddle issued a proclamation granting 
two hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio to be 
divided among the officers and men who would serve in 
the expedition. This had its effect. 

By April 20th Washington arrived at Will's Creek 
(Cumberland, Maryland) with three companies, one 
under Captain Stephen joining him on the way. The 
day previous, however, he met a messenger sent from 
Captain Trent on the Ohio announcing that the arriral 
of a French army was hourly expected. And on the 
day following, at Will's Creek, he was informed of the 
arrival of the French on what is now the site of Pitts- 
burg and the withdrawal of the Virginian force under 
Trent from the junction of the Allegheny and Monon- 
gahela whither they had been sent to build a fort for 
the protection of the Ohio Company. This information 
he immediately forwarded to the Governors of Virginia, 
Pennsylvania and Maryland. 

Fancy the state of mind of this vanguard of the Vir- 
ginian army at the receipt of this news. It was, then, 
at the last frontier fort, eleven companies strong. 
Their order was to push on to the Ohio, drive off the 
French (which was then reported to number a thousand 
men) and build a fort. Before it the only road was 
the Indian path hardly wide enough to admit the pass- 
age of a pack-horse. 

A ballot was cast amon^ Washington's Captains — the 

2Q 



youngest of whom was old enough to have been his 
father — and the decision was to advance. The Indian 
path could at least be widened and bridges built aa 
far as the Monongahela. There they determined to 
erect a fort and await orders and reinforcements. The 
reasons for this decision are given as follows in Wash- 
ington's Journal of 1754: 1. 

^^Ist. That the mouth of Red-Stone is the first con- 
venient place on the River Monongahela. 

2nd. The stores are already built at that place 
for the provisions of the Company, wherein the Am- 
munition may be laid up, our great guns may also be 
sent by water whenever we shall think it convenient to 
attack the Fort. 

3rd. We may easily (having all these conveniences) 
preserve our men from the ill consequences of inaction, 
and encourage the Indians our Allies to remain in our 
interests." 



1. The private Journal kept by Washington on the expe- 
dition of the Virginia Regiment in 1754 was composed of 
rough notes only. It was lost with other papers at the 
Battle of Fort Necessity and was captured by the French and 
sent to Paris. Two years later in was published by the French 
government, after being thoroughly "edited" by a French 
censor. It was titled 'Memoire contenant le Precis des Fails ^ 
avec leurs Pieces Justificatives, pour servir de Reponse aux Obser- 
vations envoy ees, par les Ministres d'Angleterre, dans les Cours de 
V Europe. A Paris; de V Imprimerie Royale, 1756." 

In this Memoire, togheter with portions of Washington's 
Journal appear papers, instructions, etc., captured at Brad- 
dock's defeat in 1755. Of the portion of Washington's Journal 
published, Washington himself said ;' "I kept no regular one 
(Journal) during the Expedition ; rough notes of occurrences I 
certainly took, and find them as certainly and strangely meta- 
morphised, some parts left out which I remember were 
entered, and many things added that never were thought 
of, the names of men and things egregiously miscalled, and 
the whole of what I saw Englished is very incorrect and non- 
sensical." The last entry on the Journal is on June 27th., six 
days previous to the Battle of Fort Necessity. 

24 



Thus Washington's march westward in 1754 must be 
looked upon only as the advance of a van-guard to open 
the road, bridge the streams and prepare the way for the 
commanding officer and his army. Nor was there, now, 
need of haste — had it been possible or advisable to 
hasten. The landing of the French at the junction of 
the Allegheny and Monongahela already thwarted Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddle's purpose in sending out the expedition 
"To prevent their (French) building any Forts or mak- 
ing any Settlem's on that river (Ohio) and more par- 
ticularly so nigh us as that of Logstown (fifteen miles 
below the forks of the Ohio.)" Now that a fort was 
building, with a French army of a thousand men (as 
Washington had been erroneously informed) encamp- 
ed about it, nothing more was to be thought of than a 
cautious advance. 

And so Washington gave the order to march on the 
29th. of April, three score men having been sent ahead 
to widen the Indian trail. The progress was difficalt, 
and exceedingly slow. In the first ten days the hun- 
dred and fifty men covered but twenty miles. Yet 
each mile must have been anticipated seriously by the 
young commander. He knew not whether the enemy 
or his Colonel with reinforcements was nearest. Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddle wrote him (May 4) concerning rein- 
forcements, as follows : 

"The Independ't Oompa., from So. Car. arrir'd two days ago ; 
is compleat; 100 Men besides Otflcers, and will re-embark for 
Alexa next Week, thence proceed imediately to join Colo. 
Fry and You. The two Independ't Compa's from N. York 
may be Expected in ab't ten days. The N. Car. Men, under 
the Com'd of Colo. Innes, are imagin'd to be on their March, 
and will probably be at the Randezvous ab't the 15th. Itst." 

"I hope Capt. McKay, who Com'ds the Independ't Compa., 

will soon be with You And as he appears to be an Officer of 
Bome Experience and Importance, You will, with Colo. Fry 
and Colo. Innes, so well agree as not to let some Fanctillios 

25 



ab't Com'd render the Service You are all engag'd in, perplex- 
ed or obstructed." 

Relying implictly on Dinwiddle, Washington pushed 
on and on into the wilderness, opening a road and 
building bridges for a Colonel and an army that was 
never to come I As he advanced into the Alleghenies 
he found the difficulty of hauling wagons very serious, 
and, long before he reached the Youghiogheny, he de- 
termined to test the possibility of transportation down 
that stream and the Monongahela to his destination at 
the mouth of the Redstone Creek. May 11th. he sent 
a reconnoitering force forward to Gist's, on Laurel 
Hill, the last spur of the Alleghenies, to locate a French 
party, which, the Indians reported, had left Fort Du- 
quesne, and to find if there was possibility of water 
transportation to the mouth of Redstone Creek, where 
a favorable site for a fort was to be sought. 

Slowly the frail detachment felt its way along to 
Little Meadows and across the smaller branch of the 
Youghiogheny which it bridged at "Little Crossings." 
On the 16th, according to the French version of 
Washington's Journal, he met traders who informed him 
of the appearance of French at Gist's and who expressed 
doubts as to the possibility of building a wagon road 
from Gist's to the mouth of Redstone Creek. This 
made it imperatively necessary for the young Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel to attempt to find a water passage down 
the Youghiogheny. 

The day following much information was received, 

both from the front and the rear, vividly stated in the 

Journal as follows : 

"The Governor informs me that Capt. McKay, with an in- 
dependent company of 100 men, excluding the officers, had 
arrived, and that we might expect them daily ; and that the 
men from New- York would join us within ten days. 

29 



THt'ROUTE, 

THROUGH THE 

MXtGHtNfE5 

"sciLtOF MILLS 




FOAT 
UMBERLAND 



This night also came two Indians from the Ohio who left the 
French fort five days ago: They relate that the French 
forces are all employed in building their Fort, that it is al- 
ready breast-high, and of the thickness of twelve feet, and 
filled with Earth, stones, etc. They have cut down and burnt 
up all the trees which were about it and sown grain instead 
thereof. The Indians believe they were only 600 in number, 
although they say themselves they are 800. They expect a 
greater number in a few days, which may amount to 1600. 
Then they say they can defy the English." 

Arriving on the eastern bank of the Youghiogheny 
the next day, 18th, the river being too wide to bridge 
and too high to ford, Washington put himself "in a 
position of defence against any immediate attack from 
the Enemy" and went straightway to work on the prob- 
lem of water transportation. 

By the 20th., a canoe having been provided, Wash- 
ington set out on the Youghiogheny with four men 
and an Indian. By nightfall they reached "Turkey 
Foot," (Confluence, Pennsylvania,) which Washington 
mapped as a possible site for a fort. Below "Turkey 
Foot" the stream was found too rapid and rocky to 
admit any sort of navigation and Washington returned 
to camp on the 24th. with the herculean hardships of an 
overland march staring him in the face. Information 
was now at hand from Half- King, concerning alleged 
movements of the French ; thus the letter read ; 

"To any of his Majesty's officers whom this May Concern. 
As 'tis reported that the French army is set out to meet 
M. George "Washington, I exhort you my brethren, to guard 
against them, for they intend to fall on the first English they 
meet; They have been on their march these two days, the 
Half-King and the other chiefs will join you within five days, 
to hold a council, though we know not the number we shall 
be. I shall say no more, but remember me to my brethren 
the English. 

Signed The Half-King. " 

At two o'clock of that same May day (24th.) the 
little army came down the eastern wooded hills that 
surrounded Great Meadows, and looked across the wav- 

27 



ing grasses and low bushes which covered the field they 
were soon to make classic ground. Immediately upon 
arriving at the future battle-field information was se- 
cured from a trader confirming Half-King's alarming 
letter. Below the roadway, which passed the meadow 
on the hillside, the Lieutenant-Colonel found two nat- 
ural intrenchments near a branch of Great Meadows 
run, perhaps old courses of the brook through the 
swampy land. Here the troops and wagons were placed. 

Great Meadows may be described as two large basins 
the smaller lying directly westward of the larger and 
connected with it by a narrow neck of swampy ground. 
Each is a quarter of a mile wide and the two a mile 
and a half in length. 

The old roadway descends from the southern hills, 
coming out upon the meadows at the eastern extremity 
of the western basin. It traverses the hill-side south 
of the western meadow. The natural intrenchments or 
depressions behind which Washington huddled his 
army on this May afternoon were at the eastern edge of 
the western basin. Behind him was the narrow neck 
of low-land which soon opened into the eastern basin. 
Before him to his left on the hillside his newly-made 
road crawled eastward into the hills. The Indian trail 
followed the edge of the forest westward to Laurel Hill, 
five miles distant, and on to Fort Duquesne. 

On this faint opening into the western forest the lit- 
tle army and its youthful commander kept their eyes 
as the sun dropped behind the hills closing an anxious 
day and bringing a dreaded night. How large the body 
of French might have been, not one of the one hundred 
and fifty men knew. How far away they might be no 
one could guess. Here in this forest meadow the little 

23 



Van-giiard slept on their arms, surrounded by watchful 
sentinels, with fifty-one miles of forest and mountain 
between them and the nearest settlement at Will's 
Creek. The darkling forests crept down the hills on 
either side as though to hint by their portentous shad- 
ows of the dead and dying that were to be. 

But the night waned and morning came. With in- 
creasing energy, as though nerved to duty by the dan- 
gers which surrounded him, the twenty-two year old 
commander Washington gave his orders promptly. A 
scouting party was sent on the Indian trail in search 
of the coming French. Squads were set to threshing 
the forest for spies. Horsemen were ordered to scour 
the country and keep look-out for the French from 
neighboring points of vantage. 

At night all returned, none the wiser for their vigi- 
lance and labor. The French force had disappeared 
from the face of the earth I It may be believed that 
this lack of information did not tend to ease the in- 
tense strain of the hour. It must have been plain to 
the dullest that serious things were ahead. Two flags, 
silken emblems of an immemorial hatred, were being 
brought together in the Alleghenies. It was a moment 
of utmost importance to Europe and America. Quebec 
and Jamestown were met on Laurel Hill ; and a spark 
struck here and now was to "set the world on fire." 

However clearly this may have been seen, Washing- 
ton was not the man to withdraw. Indeed, the celerity 
with which he precipitated England and France into 
war made him a criticised man on both continents. 

Another day passed — and the French could not be 
found. On the following day Christopher Gist arrived 

29 



at Great Meadows with the information that M. la 
Force (whose tracks he had seen within five miles of 
Great Meadows) had been at his house, fifteen miles 
distant. Acting on this reliable information Wash- 
ington at once dispatched a scouting party in pursuit. 

The day passed and no word came to the anxious men 
in their trenches in the meadows. Another night, si- 
lent and cheerless, came over the mountains upon the 
valley, and with the night came rain. Fresh fears of 
strategy and surprise must have arisen as the cheerless 
sun went down. 

Suddenly, at eight in the evening, a runner brought 
word that the French were run to cover I Half-King, 
while coming to join Washington, had found la Force's 
party in "a low, obscure place." 

It was now time for a daring man to show himself. 
Such was the young commander at Great Meadows. 

"That very moment," wrote Washington in his 
Journal, "I sent out forty men and ordered my ammu- 
nition to be put in a place of safety, fearing it to be a 
stratagem of the French to attack our camp ; I left a 
guard to defend it, and with the rest of my men set out 
in a heavy rain , and in a night as dark as pitch." 

Perhaps a war was never precipitated under stranger 
circumstances. Contrecoeur^ commanding at Fort Du- 
quesne, was made aware by his Indian scouts of Wash- 
ington's progress all the way from the Potomac. The 
day before Washington arrived at Great Meadows Con- 
trecoeur ordered M. de Jumonville to leave Fort Du- 
quesne with a detachment of thirty-four men, com- 
manded by la Force, and go toward the advancing Eng- 
lish. To the English (when he met them) he was to 
explain he had come to order them to retire. To the 

30 



Indians he was to pretend he was "travelling about to 
see what is transacting in the King's Territories, and 
to take notice of the different roads." In the eyes of 
the English the party was to be an embassy. In the 
eyes of the Indians, a party of scouts reconnoitering. 
This is clear from the orders given by Contrecoeur to 
Jumonville. 

Three days before, on the 26th, this "embassy" was at 
Gist's plantation where, according to Gist's report to 
Washington, they "would have killed a cow and broken 
everything in the house, if two Indians, whom he (Gist) 
had left in charge of the home, had not prevented them. ' ' 

From Gist's la Force had advanced within five miles 
of Great Meadows, as Gist ascertained by their tracks 
on the Indian trail. Then — although the English com- 
mander was within an hour's march — the French re- 
traced their steps to the summit of Laurel Hill and, de- 
scending deep into the obscure valley on the east, built 
a hut under the lea of the precipice and rested from 
their labors. Here they remained throughout the 27th, 
while Washington's scouts were running their legs off 
in the attempt to locate them and the young Lieuten- 
ant-colonel was in a fever of anxiety at their sudden, 
ominous disappearance. Now they were found. 

What a march was that I The darkness was intense. 
The path, Washington wrote, was "scarce broad enough 
for one man." Now and then it was lost completely 
and a quarter of an hour was wasted in finding it. 
Stones and roots impeded the way, and were made treb- 
ly treacherous by the torrents of rain which fell. The 
men struck the trees. They fell over each other. They 
slipped from the narrow track and slid downward 
through the soaking leafy carpet of the forests. 

31 



Enthusiastic tourists make the journey today from 
Great Meadows to the summit of Laurel Hill on the 
track over which Washington and his hundred men 
floundered and stumbled that wet May night a century 
and a half ago. It is a hard walk but exceedingly 
fruitful to one of imaginative vision. From Great 
Meadows the trail holds fast to the height of ground 
until Braddock's Run is crossed near "Braddock'a 
Grave." Picture that little group of men floundering 
down into this mountain stream, swollen by the heavy 
rain, in the utter darkness of that night 1 From Brad- 
dock's Run the trail begins its long climb on the sides 
of the foot-hills, by picturesque Peddler's Rocks, to 
the top of Laurel Hill, two thousand feet above. 

Washington left Great Meadows about eight o'clock. 
It was not until sunrise that Half- King's sentries at 
* 'Washington's Spring," saw the van-guard file out on 
the narrow ridge, which, dividing the headwaters of 
Great Meadow Run and Cheat River, made an easy 
ascent to the summit of the mountain. The march of 
five miles had been accomplished, with great difficulty, 
in a little less than *wfS» hours — or at the rate of one 
mile in two hours. 

Forgetting all else for the moment, consider the young 
leader of this floundering, stumbling army. There is 
not another episode in all Washington's long, eventful, 
life that shows more clearly his strength of personal 
determination and daring. Beside this all-night march 
from Great Meadows to Washington's Spring, Wolf's 
ascent to the Plains of Abraham at Quebec, was a past- 
time. The climb up from Wolf's Cove (all romantic 
accounts and pictures to the contrary notwithstanding) 
was an exceedingly easy march up a valley that hardly 

82 



deserved to be called steep. A child can run along 
Wolfe's path at any point from top to bottom. A man 
in full daylight today, can walk over Washington's 
five mile course to Laurel Hill in half the time the 
little army needed on that black night. If a more 
difficult ten-hour night march has been made in the 
history of warfare in America, who led it and where 
was it made? No feature of the campaign shows more 
clearly the unmatched, irresistible energy of this twen- 
ty-two-year-old boy. For those to whom Washington, 
the man, is "unknown," there are lessons in this little 
briery path today of value far beyond their cost. 

Whether Washington intended to attack the French 
before he reached Half-King is not known; at the 
Spring a conference was held and it was immediately 
decided to attack. Washington did not know and 
could not have known that Jumonville was an embas- 
sador. The action of the French in approaching Great 
Meadows and then withdrawing and hiding was not 
the behavior of an embassy. Half-King and his In- 
dians were of the opinion that the French party enter- 
tertamed evil designs, and, as Washington afterwards 
wrote, ''If we had been such fools as to let them (the 
French) go, they (the Indians) would never have 
helped us to take any other Frenchmen." 

Two scouts were sent out in advance ; then, in Indian 
file, Washington and his men with Half-King and a 
few Indians followed and ''prepared to surround them." 
Laurel Hill, the most westerly range of the Alleghen- 
les, trends north and south through Pennsylvania. In 
Fayette county, about one mile on the summit north- 
ward from the National Road, lies Washington's Spring 
where Half-King encamped. The Indian trail coursed 

S3 



along the summit northward fifteen miles to Gist's. 
On the eastern side, Laurel Hill descends into a valley 
varying from a hundred to five hundred feet deep. 
Nearly two miles from the Spring, in the bottom of a 
valley four hundred feet deep, lay Jumonville's "em- 
bassy." The attacking party, guided by Indians, 
who had previously wriggled down the hillside on their 
bellies and found the French, advanced along the In- 
dian trail and then turned off and began stealthily 
creeping down the mountain-side. 

Washington's plan was, clearly, to surround and 
capture the French. It is plain he did not understand 
the ground. They were encamped in the bottom of a 
valley two hundred yards wide and more than a mile 
long. Moreover the hillside on which the English 
were descending abruptly ended on a narrow ledge of 
rocks thirty feet high and a hundred yards long. 

Coming suddenly out on the rocks, Washington 
leading the right division and Half-King the left, it 
was plain in the twinkling of an eye that it would not 
be possible to achieve a bloodless victory. Washington 
therefore gave and received first fire. It was fifteen 
minutes before the astonished but doughty French, 
probably now surrounded by Half-King's Indians, were 
compelled to surrender. Ten of their number, includ- 
ing their "Embassador" Jumonville, were killed out- 
right and one wounded. Twenty-one prisoners were 
taken. One Frenchman escaped, running half clothed 
through the forests to Fort Duquesne with the evil 
tidings. 

"We killed." writes Washington, "Mr, de Jumonville, the 
Commander of that party, as also nine others ; we wounded 
one and made twenty-one prisoners, among whom were M. la 
Force, and M. Drouillon and two cadets. The Indians scalped 

31 




Ledge from which Washington opened fire upon Jumonville's 

party. 



the dead and took away the greater part of their arms, after 
which we marched on with the prisoners under guard to the 

Indian camp I marched on with the prisoners. 

They informed me that they had been sent with a summons to order 
me to retire. A plausible pretense to discover our camp and 
to obtain knowlege of our forces and our situation ! It was so 
clear that they were come to reconnoiter what we were, that 
I admired their assurance, when they told me they were come 
as an Embassy ; their instructions were to get what knowledge 
they could of the roads, rivers, and all the country as far as 
the Potomac ; and instead of coming as an Embassador, pub- 
licly and in an open manner, they came secretly, and sought 
the most hidden retreats more suitable for deserters than for 
Embassadors ; they encamped there and remained hidden 
for whole days together, at a distance of not more than 
five miles from us ; they sent spies to reconnoiter our camp ; 
the whole body turned back 2 miles ; they sent the two 
messengers mentioned in the instruction, to inform M. de 
Contrecoeur of the place where we were, and of our disposi- 
tion, that he might send his detachments to enforce the sum- 
mons as soon as it should be given. Besides, an Embassador 
has princely attendants, whereas this was only a simple petty 
French officer, an Embassador has no need of spies, his per- 
son being always sacred : and seeing their intention was so 
good, why did they tarry two days at five miles distance 
from us without acquainting me with the summons, or at 
least, with something that related to the Embassy? That alone 
woald be sufiicient to excite the strongest suspicions, and 
we must do them the justice to say, that, as they wanted to 
hide themselves, they could not have picked out better places 
than they had done. The summons was so insolent, and sav- 
ored of so much Gasonade that if it had been brought openly by 
two men it would have been an excessive Indulgence to have 
suffered them to return. . . . They say they called to us as soon 
as they had discovered us ; which is an absolute falsehood, for 
I was then marching at the head of the company going towards 
them, and can positively affirm, that, when they first saw us, 
they ran to their arms, without calling, as I must have heard 
them had they so done." 

In a letter to his brother, Washington wrote ' ' I for- 
tunately escaped without any wound ; for the right 
wing where I stood, was exposed to, and received all 
the enemy's fire; and it was the part where the man 
was killed and the rest wounded. I heard the bullets 
whistle ; and, believe me, there is something charm- 
ing in the sound." The letter was published in the 

85 



London Magazine. It is said George II. read it and 
commented dryly: "He would not say so if he had 
been used to hear many." In later years Washington 
heard too much of the fatal music, and once, when 
asked if he had written such rodomontade, is said to 
have answered gravely, "If I said so, it was when I was 
young." Aye, but it is memorials of that daring, 
young Virginian, to whom whistling bullets were charm- 
ing, that we seek in the Alleghenies today. We catch 
a similar glimpse of this ardent, boyish spirit in a let- 
ter written from Fort Necessity later. Speaking of 
strengthening the fortifications Washington writes : 
"We have, with nature's assistance, made a good en- 
trenchment, and by clearing the bushes out of these 
meadows, prepared a charming field for an encounter." 
Over and above the anxieties with which he was ever 
beset there shines out clearly the exuberance of youth- 
ful zest and valor — soon to be hardened and quenched 
by innumerable cares and heavy responsibilities. 

Thus the first blow of that long, bloody, seven year's 
war was struck by the red-uniformed Virginians under 
Washington, at the bottom of that Allegheny valley. 
He immediately returned to Great Meadowj and sent 
eastward to the belated Frv for reinforcements. On the 
80th, the French prisoners were sent eastward to Vir- 
ginia, and the construction of a fort was begun at 
Great Meadows, by erecting "small palisades." This 
was completed by the following day, June 1st. Wash- 
ington speaks of this fort in his Journal as "Fort Ne- 
cessity" under date of June 25th. The name suggests 
the exigencies which led to its erection ; lack of troops 
and provisions. On June 2nd Washington wrote in 
his Journal: "We had prayers in the Fort" ; the name 

86 



Necessity may not have been used at first. On the 6th 
Gist arrived from Will's Creek bringing the news of 
Colonel Fry's death from injuries sustained by being 
thrown from his horse. Thus the command now de- 
volved upon Washington who had been in actual com- 
mand from the beginning. On the 9th the remainder 
of the Virginia regiment arrived from Will's Creek, 
with the swivels, under Colonel Muse. On the day 
following Captain Mackaye arrived with the indepen- 
dent company of South Carolinians. 

This reinforcement put a new face on affairs, and it 
is clear that the new Colonel commanding secretly 
hoped to capture Fort Duquesne forthwith. The road 
was finished to Great Meadows. For two weeks, now, 
the work went on completing it as far as Gist's, on 
Mount Braddock. In the meantime a sharp lookout 
for the French was maintained and spies were contin- 
ually sent toward Fort Duquesne. Among all else 
that taxed the energies of the young Colonel was the 
Indian question. At one time he received and answer- 
ed a deputation of Delawares and Shawanese which he 
knew was sent by the French. Yet the answer of this 
youth to the "treacherous devils," as he calls them in 
his private record of the day, was as bland and diplo- 
matic as that of Indian Chieftain bred to hypocrisy 
and deceit. He put little faith in the redskins, but 
made good use of those he had as spies. He also did 
all in his power to restrain the vagrant tribes from 
joining the French, and offered to all who came or 
would come to him a hospitality he could ill afford. 

On the 28th the road was completed to Gist's, and 
eight of the sixteen miles from Gist's to the mouth of 
Redstone Creek. On this day the scouts brought word 

37 



of reinforcements at Fort Duquesne and of prepara- 
tions for sending out an army. Immediately Wash- 
ington summoned Mackaye's company from Fort Ne- 
cessity, and the building of a fort was begun by throw- 
ing up entrenchments on Mount Braddock. All out- 
lying squads were called in. But on the 80th, fresh- 
er information being at hand, it was decided at a 
council of war to retreat to Virginia rather than op- 
pose the strong force which was reported to be advanc- 
ing up the Monongahela. 

The consternation at Fort Duquesne upon the arrival 
of that single, barefoot fugitive from Jumonville's 
company can be imagined. Relying on the pompous 
pretenses of the embassadorship and desiring to avoid 
an indefensible violation of the Treaty of Utrecht — 
though its spirit and letter were "already infringed 
by his very presence on the ground" — Contrecoeur 
(one of the best representatives of his proud King that 
ever came to America) assembled a council of war and 
ordered each opinion to be put in writing. Mercier 
gave moderate advice ; Coulon-Villiers, half-brother of 
Jumonville, burning with rage, urged violent measures. 
Mercier prevailed, and an army of five hundred French 
and as many, or more, Indians, among whom were 
many Delawares, formerly friends of the English, was 
raised to march and meet Washington. At his request, 
the command was given to Coulon-Villiers — Le Grande 
Villers, so called from his prowess among the Indians. 
Mercier was second in command. This was the army 
before which Washington was now slowly, painfully, 
retreating from Mount Braddock toward Virginia. 

It was a sad hour — that in which the Virginian re- 
treat was ordered by its daring Colonel, eager for a 

38 



fight. But, even if he secretly wished to stay and de- 
fend the splendid site on Mount Braddock where he 
had entrenched his army, the counsel of older heads 
prevailed. It would have been better had the army 
stuck to those breastworks — but the suffering and hu- 
miliation to come was not foreseen. 

Backward over the rough, new road, the little army 
plodded, the Virginians hauling the swivels by hand. 
Two teams and a few pack-horses were all that remain- 
ed of horse-flesh equal to the occasion. Even Wash- 
ington and his officers walked. For a week there had 
been no bread. In two days Fort Necessity was reach- 
ed, where, quite exhausted, the little army went into 
camp. There were only a few bags of flour here. It 
was plain, now, that the retreat to Virginia was ill-ad- 
vised. Human strength was not equal to it. So there 
was nothing to do but send post-haste to Will's Creek 
for help. But, if strength were lacking — there was 
courage and to spare 1 For after a "full and free'' 
conference of the officers it was determined to enlarge 
the stockade, strengthen the fortifications, and await 
the enemy, whatever his number or power. 

The day following was spent in this work, and famed 
Fort Necessity was completed. It was the shape of an 
irregular square situated upon a small height of land 
near the center of the swampy meadow. "The natural 
entrenchments" of which Washington speaks in his 
Journal may have been merely this height of ground, 
or old courses of the two brooks which flow by it on 
the north and on the east. At any rate the fort was 
built on an "island," so to speak, in the wet lowland. 
A narrow neck of solid land connected it with the 
southern hillside, along which the road ran. A shallow 

39 



ditch surrounded the earthen palisaded sides of the 
fort. Parallel with the southeastern and southwestern 
palisades rifle pits were dug. Bastion gateways offered 
entrance and exit. The work embraced less than a 
sixth of an acre of land. All day long skirmishers 
and double picket lines were kept out and the steady 
advance of the French force, three times the size of 
the army fearlessly awaiting it, was reported by hur- 
rying scouts. 

Xo army ever slept on its arms of a night surer of 
a battle on the morrow than did this first English army 
that ever came into the west. Le Grande Villiers, 
thirsting for revenge, lay not five miles off, with a 
thousand followers who had caught his spirit. 

Bv earliest morning light on Wednesdav, Julv third, 
an English sentry was brought in wounded. The 
French were then descending Laurel Hill, four miles 
distant. Thev had attacked the entrenchments on 
Mount Braddock the morning before only to find 
their bird had flown, and now were pressing 
after the retreating redcoats and their ''buckskin 
Colonel." 

Little is known of the story of this day within that 
earthen fort save as it is told in the meagre de- 
tails of the general battle. There was great lack of 
food, but, to compensate for this, as the soldiers no 
doubt thought, there was much to drink I Bv eleven 
o'clock the French and Indians, spreading throughout 
the forests on the northwest, began firing at six hun- 
dred yards distance. Finally they circled to the south- 
east where the forests approach nearer to the English 
trenches. Washington at once drew his little army 
out of the fort and boldly challenged assault on that 

40 




Grape Shot found near Fort Necessity. Actual size. 



narrow neck of solid land on the south which formed 
the only approach to the fort. 

But the crafty Villiers, not to be tempted, kept 
well within the forest shadows to the south and east — 
cutting off all retreat to Virginia I Realizing at last 
that the French would not give battle, Washington 
withdrew again behind his entrenchments, Mac- 
kaye's South Carolinians occupying the rifle-pits which 
paralleled the two sides of the fortification. 

Here the all-day's battle was fought between the 
Virginians behind their breastworks and in their 
trenches, and the French and Indians on the ascending 
wooded hill-sides. The rain which began to fall soon 
flooded Mackaye's men out of their trenches. No 
other change of position was made. And, so far as 
the battle went, the English doggedly held their own. 
In the contest with hunger and rain however, they 
were fighting a losing battle. The horses and cattle 
escaped and were slaughtered by the enemy. The pro- 
visions were being exhausted and the ammunition was 
spending fast. As the afternoon waned, though there 
was some cessation of musketry fire, many guns being 
rendered useless by the rain, the smoking little swiv- 
els were made to do double duty. They bellowed their 
fierce defiance with unwonted zest as night came on, 
giving to the English an appearance of strength which 
they were far from possessing. The hungry soldiers 
made up for the lack of food from the abundance of 
liquor, which, in their exhausted state had more than 
its usual effect. By nightfall half the little doomed 
army was intoxicated. No doubt, had Villiers dared 
to rush the entrenchments, the English would 
have been annihilated. The hopelessness of their 

41 



condition could not have been realized by the foe on 
the hills. 

But it was realized by the young Colonel com- 
manding. And as he looked about him in the wet 
twilight of that July day, what a dismal ending of 
his first campaign it must have seemed. Fifty-four of 
his three hundred and four men were killed or wound- 
ed in that little palisaded enclosure. Provisions and 
ammunition were about gone. Horses and cattle were 
gone. Many of the small arms were useless. The army 
was surrounded by Le Grande Villiers, watchfully abid- 
ing his time. And there was comedy with the tragedy 
— half the tired men were under the influence of the 
only stimulant that could be spared. What mercy 
could be hoped for from the brother of the dead Jumon- 
ville? A fight to the death, or at least a captivity at 
Fort Duquesne or Quebec was all that could be expec- 
ted — for had not Jumonville's party already been sent 
into Virginia as captives? 

At eight in the evening the French requested a parley 
and Washington refused to consider the suggestion. 
Why should a parley be desired with an enemy in such 
a hopeless strait as they? It was clear that Villiers 
had resorted to this strategy to gain better informa- 
tion of their condition. But the request was soon re- 
peated, and this time Villiers asked for a parley be- 
tween the lines. To this Washington readily acceded, 
and Captain van Braam went to meet le Mercier, who 
brought a verbal proposition for the capitulation of 
Fort Necessity from Villiers. To this proposition 
Washington and his officers listened. Twice the com- 
missioners were sent to Villiers to submit modifications 
demanded by Washington. They returned a third 

42 



iZci.-'C 



'.rtiVi^' 



.■vi;-^^ 



■ -", •< ^-r 









i•-.^ 






^J^-'Sr^ 









■::- :._^ ^ ^ ^"'1/ -"^ ,^- - . ' 










%i^:ti5^ 



((CtJafflp 0-) 
_ (onhfj _^ 

<J A R£I> SPARKS 
DRAWINO IM 
'WRITINGS OF 
WASHINOTQJ<" 






time with the articles reduced to writing — but in 
French. Washington depended upon van Braam*B 
poor knowledge of French and mongrel English for a 
verbal translation. Jumonville's death was referred to 
as an assassination though van Braam Englished the 
word "death" — perhaps thinking there was no other 
translation of the French Vassassinat. By the light of 
a flickering candle, which the mountain wind frequent- 
ly extinguished, the rain falling upon the company, 
George Washington signed this, his first and last 
capitulatation. 

Article 1st. We permit the English Commander to with- 
draw with all the garrison, in order that he may return peace- 
ably to his country, and to shield him from all insult at 
the hands of our French, and to restrain the savages who are 
with us as much as may be in our power. 

Art. 2nd. He shall be permitted to withdraw and to take 
with him whatever belongs to his troops, except the artillery, 
which we reserve for ourselves. 

Art. 3d. We grant them the honors of war; they shall 
withdraw with beating drums, and with a small piece of can- 
non, wishing by this means to show that we consider them 
friends. 

Art. 4th. As soon as these articles shall be signed by both 
parties, they shall take down the English flag. 

Art. 5th. Tomorrow at daybreak a detachment of French 
shall lead forth the garrison and take possession of the afore- 
said fort. 

Art. 6th. Since the English have scarcely any horses or 
oxen left, they shall be allowed to hide their property, in 
order that they may return to seek for it after they shall 
have recovered their horses ; for this purpose they shall be 
permitted to leave such number of troops as guards as they 
may think proper, under this condition, that they give their word 
of honor that they will work on no establishment either in the sur- 
rounding country or beyond the Highlands during one year begin- 
ning from this day. 

Art. 7th. Since the English have in their power an oflScer 
and two cadets, and, in general, all the prisoners whom they 
took when they murdered Lord Jumonville, they now promise to 
Rend them, with an escort to Fort Duquesne, situated on Belle 
River ; and to secure the safe performance of this treaty arti- 
cle, as well as of the treaty, Messrs. Jacob van Braam and Rob- 
ert Stobo, both Captains, shall be delivered to us as hostages 

43 



until the arrival of our French and Canadians herein before 
mentioned. 

We on oar part declare that we shall give an escort to send 
back in safety the two officers who promise us our French in 
two months and a half at the latest. 

Copied on one of the posts of our block-house the same day 
and year as before. 

(Signed.) Messrs. James Mackaye, Go. 

Go. AVashington, 
CouLON Villier. 

The parts printed in italics were those misrepresent- 
ed by van Braam. The words ^'pe7ident une annee a 
compter de cejour^^ are not found in the articles print- 
ed by the French government, as though it repudiated 
Villier's intimation that the English should ever re- 
turn. Yet within a year — lacking nine days — an Eng- 
ish army, eight times as great as the one now capitu- 
lating, marched across this battle-field. The nice 
courtesy shown by the young Colonel in allowing 
Captain Mackaye' s name to take precedence over his 
own, is significant, as Mackaye, a King's officer, had 
never considered himself amenable to Washington's 
orders, and his troops had steadily refused to bear the 
brunt of the campaign — working on the road or trans- 
porting guns and baggage. In the trenches, however, 
the Carolinians did their duty. 

And so, on the morning of July 4th, the red-uniform- 
ed Virginians and the King's troops marched out from 
Fort Necessity between the files of French, with all the 
honors of war and tambour battant. Much baggage had 
to be destroyed to save it from the Indians whom the 
French could not restrain. Such was the condition of 
the men — the wounded being carried on stretchers — 
that only three miles could be made on the homeward 
march the first day. However glorious later July 
Fourths may have seemed to Washington, -memories 



of this distress and gloom and humilation served to 
temper his transports. The report of the officers of 
the Virginia regiment made at Will's Creek, where 
they arrived July 9th, shows thirteen killed, fifty- 
three wounded, thirteen left lame on the road, twenty- 
one sick, and one hundred sixty-five fit for duty. 

On August 80th, the Virginian House of Burgesses 
passed a vote of thanks to "Colonel George Washing- 
ton, Captain Mackaye of his Majesty's Independent 
Company, and the officers under his command," for 
their "gallant and brave Behavior in Defence of their 
Country." The sting of defeat was softened by a 
public realization of the odds of the contest and the 
failure of Dinwiddle to forward reinforcements and 
supplies. 

But the young hero was deeply chagrined at his be- 
ing duped to recognize Jumonville's death as an assas- 
sination. Captain van Braam, being held in disrepute 
for what was probably nothing more culpable than 
carelessness, was not named in the vote of thanks ten- 
dered Washington's officers. But this chagrin was no 
more cutting than the obstinacy of Dinwiddle in re- 
fusing to fulfil the article of the treaty concerning 
the return of the French prisoners. For this there 
was little or no valid excuse, and Dinwiddle's action 
in thus playing fast and loose with Washington's rep- 
utation was as galling to the young Colonel as it was 
heedless of his country's honor and the laws of war. 

Washington's first visit to the Ohio had proven 
French occupation of that great valley. This, his 
second mission, had proven their power. With this 
campaign began his military career. "Although as 
yet a youth," writes Sparks, "with small experience, 

45 



unskilled in war, and relying on his own resources, he 
had behaved with the prudence, address, courage, and 
firmness of a veteran commander. Rigid in disci- 
pline, but sharing the hardships and solicitous for the 
welfare of his soldiers, he had secured their obedience 
and won their esteem amidst privations, sufferings and 
perils that have seldom been surpassed." 



46 



III. 

FORT NECESSITY AND ITS HERO. 

On a plateau surrounded by low ground at the west- 
ern extremity of classic Great Meadows, Fort Necessity 
was built, and there may be seen today the remains of 
its palisades. 

The site was not chosen because of its strategic lo- 
cation but because, late in that May day, a century 
and a half ago, a little army hurrying forward to find 
any spot where it could defend itself, selected it be- 
cause of the supply of water afforded by the brooks. 

From the hill to the east the young Commander no 
doubt looked with anxious eyes upon this well watered 
meadow, and perhaps he decided quickly to make his 
resistance here. As he neared the spot his hopes rose, 
for he found that the plateau was surrounded by wet 
ground and able to be approached only from the south- 
ern side. Moreover the plateau contained "natural 
fortifications," as Washington termed them, possibly 
gullies torn through it sometime when the brooks were 
out of banks. 

Here Washington quickly ensconced his men. From 
their trenches, as they looked westward for the French, 
lay the western extremity of Great Meadows covered 
with bushes and rank grasses. To their right — the 
north — the meadow marsh stretched more than a hun- 

47 



dred yards to the gently ascending wooded hillside. 
Behind them lay the eastern sweep of meadows, and 
to their left, seventy yards distant, the wooded hill- 
side to the south. The high ground on which they lay 
contained about forty square rods, and was bounded 
on the north by Great Meadows brook and on the 
east by a brooklet which descended from the valley be- 
tween the southern hills. 

When, in the days following, Fort Necessity was 
raised, the palisades, it is said, were made by erecting 
logs on one end, side by side, and throwing dirt against 
them from both sides. As there were no trees in the 
meadow, the logs were brought from the southern hill- 
side over the narrow neck of solid ground to their 
place. On the north the palisade was made to touch 
the waters of the brook. Without its embankments 
on the south and west sides, two trenches were dug 
parallel with the embankments, to serve as rifle-pits. 
Bastion gateways, three in number, were made in the 
western palisade. 

The first recorded survey of Fort Necessity was made 
by Mr. Freeman Lewis, senior author, with Mr. James 
Veech, of "The Monongahela of Old," in 1816. This 
survey was first reproduced in Lowdermilks' "History 
of Cumberland" ; it is described by Mr. Veech in "The 
Monongahela of Old," and has been reproduced, as 
authoritative, by the authors of "Frontier Forts of 
Pennsylvania" published in 1895 by the State of Penn- 
sylvania. The embankments are described thus by 
Mr. Veech on the basis of his collaborator's survey : 
"It (Fort Necessity) was in the form of an obtuse- 
angled triangle of 105 degrees, having its base or hy- 
pothenuse upon the run. The line of the base was 

48 



A.C S,86W tP 

B A. H.\T*^. IP 
U.t fli,E 'O.J 







about midway, sected or broken, and about two perches 
of it thrown across the run, connecting with the base 
by lines of the triangle. One line of the angle was six, 
the other seven perches ; the base line eleven perches 
long, including the section thrown across the run. 
The lines embraced in all about fifty square perches of 
land on (or?) nearly one third of an acre." 

This amusing statement has been seriously quoted 
by the authorities mentioned, and a map is made ac- 
cording to it and published in the "Frontier Forts of 
Pennsylvania" without a word as to its inconsisten- 
cies I How could a triangle, the sides of which meas- 
ure six, seven and eleven rods, contain fifty square rods 
or one third of an acre? It could not contain half that 
amount. 

The present writer went to Fort Necessity armed 
with this two page map of Fort Necessity in the "Fron- 
tier Forts of Pennsylvania" which he trusted as au- 
thoritative. The present owner of the land, Mr. Lewis 
Fazenbaker objected to the map, and it was only in 
trying to prove its correctness that its inconsistencies 
were discovered. 

The mounds now standing on the ground are drawn 
on the appended chart "Diagrams of Fort Necessity" 
as lines C A B E. By a careful survey of them by 
Mr. Robert McCracken C. E., sides C A and A B are 
found to be the identical mounds surveyed by Mr. 
Lewis, the variation in direction being exceedingly 
slight and easily accounted for by erosion. The direc- 
tion of Mr. Lewis' sides were N 25 W and S 80 W : 
their direction by Mr. McCracken's survey are N 22 W 
and S 80.30 W. This proves beyond a shadow of a 

49 



doubt that the embankments surveyed in 1816 and 
1901 are identical. 

But the third mound B E runs utterly at variance 
with Mr. Lewis' figure. By him its direction was 

59i E ; its present direction is S 76 E. The question 
then arises ; Is this mound the one that Mr. Lewis sur- 
veyed? Nothing could be better evidence that it is than 
the very egregious error Mr. Lewis made concerning 
the area contained within his triangular embankment. 
He affirms that the area of Fort Necessity was fifty 
square rods. Now take the line of B E for the hy- 
pothenuse of the triangle and extend it to F where it 
would meet the projection of side A C. That tri- 
angle contains almost exactly 50 square rods or one-third of 
an acre I The natural supposition must be that some 
one had surveyed the triangle A F B and computed its 
area correctly as about fifty square rods. The mere 
recording of this area is sufficient evidence that the 
triangle A F B had been surveyed in 1816, and this is 
sufficient proof that mound B E stood just as it stands 
today and was considered in Mr. Lewis' day as one of 
the embankments of Fort Necessity. 

Now, why did Mr. Lewis ignore the embankment 
B E and the triangle A F B which contained these fifty 
square rods he gave as the area of Fort Necessity? 
For the very obvious reason that that triangle crossed 
the brook and ran far into the marsh beyond. By every 
account the palisades of Fort Necessity were made to 
extend on the north to touch the brook, therefore it 
would be quite ridiculous to suppose the palisades 
crossed the brook again on the east. Mr. Lewis, pre- 
possessed with the idea that the embankments must 
have been triangular in shape, drew the line B C as 

50 



the base of his triangle, bisecting it at M and N, and 
making the loop MSN touch the brook. This design 
(triangle A B C) of Fort Necessity is improbable for 
the following reasons : 

1. It has not one half the area Mr. Lewis gives it. 

2. It would not include much more than one-half 
of the high ground of the plateau, which was none too 
large for a fort. 

8. There is no semblance of a mound B C nor any- 
shred of testimony nor any legend of its existence. 

4. The mound B E is entirely ignored though there 
is the best of evidence that it stood in Mr. Lewis' day 
where it stands today and was considered an embank- 
ment of Fort Necessity. Mr. Lewis gives exactly the 
area of a triangle with it as a part of the base line. 

5. Loop MSN would not come near the course of 
the brook without extending it far beyond Mr. Lewis' 
estimate of the length of its sides. 

6. Its area is only about 5200 square feet which 
would make Fort Necessity unconscionably small in 
face of the fact that more high ground was available. 

In 1759 Colonel Burd visited the site of Fort Neces- 
sity. This was only five years after it was built. He 
described its remains as circular in shape. If it was 
originally a triangle it is improbable that it could have 
appeared round five years later. If, however, it was 
originally an irregular square it is not improbable that 
the rains and frosts of five winters, combined with the 
demolition of the Fort by the French, would have giv- 
en the mounds a circular appearance. Was Fort Ne- 
cessity, then, built in the form of an irregular square? 
There is the best of evidence that it was. 

In 1830 — fourteen years after Mr. Lewis' "survey," 

51 



—Mr. Jared Sparks, a careful historian and author of 
the standard work on Washington, visited Fort 
Necessity. According to him its remains occupied 
"an irregular square, the dimensions of which were 
about one hundred feet on each side." Mr. Sparks 
drew a map of the embankments which is incorporat- 
ed in his "Writings of Washington." This drawing 
has not been reproduced in any later work, the authors 
of both "History of Cumberland" and "Frontier 
Forts of Pennsylvania" preferring to reproduce Mr. 
Lewis' inconsistent survey and speculation rather than 
the drawing of what Mr. Sparks, himself, saw. 

It is plain that Mr. Sparks found the embankment 
B E running in the direction it does today and not at 
all in direction of the line B C as Mr. Lewis drew it. 
By giving the approximate length of the sides as one 
hundred feet, Mr. Sparks gives about the exact length 
of the line B E in whatever direction it is extended to 
the brook. The fact that such an exact scholar as Mr. 
Sparks does not mention a sign or tradition of an em- 
bankment at B C, only fourteen years after Mr. Lewis 
"surveyed" it, is evidence that it never existed which 
cannot come far from convicting the latter of a positive 
intention to speculate. 

Mr. Sparks gives us four sides for Fort Necessity. 
Three of these have been described as C A, A B and the 
broken line BED. Is there any evidence of the 
fourth side such as indicated by the line CD? There 
is. 

When Mr. Fazenbaker first questioned the accuracy 
of the map of Fort Necessity m "Frontier Forts of Penn- 
sylvania," he believed the fort was a four sided con- 

52 






Western embankment of Fort Necessity marked with a line 

of white stones. 




Remains of the Southern embankment of Fort Necessity. 
The low ground covered with rank grass, on the right, marks' 
the rifle-pit. In the distance is the Eastern sweep of Great 
Meadows. 



struction and pointed to a small mound, indicated at 
O, as the remains of the fourth embankment. The 
mound would not be noticed in a hasty view of the 
field but, on examination proves to be an artificial, 
not a natural, mound. It is in lower ground and 
nearer the old course of the brook than the remains of 
Fort Necessity. A mound here would suffer most 
when the brook was out of banks, which would account 
for its disappearance. 

Excavations in the other mounds had been unsuc- 
cessful ; nothing had been discovered of the palisades, 
though every mound gave certain proof of having been 
artificially made. But excavations at mound gave a 
different result. At about four and one-half feet below 
the surface of the ground, at the water line, a consider- 
able amount of bark was found, fresh and red as new 
bark. It was water-soaked and the strings lay paral- 
lel with the mound above and were not found at a 
greater distance than two feet from its center. It was 
the rough bark of a tree's trunk— not the skin bark 
such as grows on roots. Large flakes, the size of a 
man's hand, could be removed from it. At a distance 
of ten feet away a second trench was sunk, in line with 
the mound but quite beyond its northwestern extrem- 
ity. Bark was found here entirely similar in color, 
position, and condition. There is little doubt that 
the bark came from the logs of the palisades of Fort 
Necessity, though nothing is to be gained by exaggera- 
ting the possibility. Bark, here in the low ground, 
would last indefinitely, and water was reached under 
this mound sooner than at any other point. No wood 
was found. It is probable that the French threw down 
the palisades, but bark would naturally have been left 

53 



m the ground. If wood had been left it would not 
withstand decay so long as bark. Competent judges 
declare the bark to be that of oak. An authority of 
great reputation, expresses the opinion that the bark 
found was probably from the logs of the palisades erec- 
ted in 1754. 

If anything is needed to prove that this slight mound 
O was an embankment of Fort Nacessity, it is to be 
found in the result of Mr. McCracken's survey. The 
mound lies in exact line with the eastern extremity of 
embankment C A, the point C, being located seven 
rods from the obtuse angle A, in line with the mound 
C A, which is broken by Mr. Fazenbaker's lane. Also, 
the distance from C to D (in line with the mound 0) 
measures ninety-nine feet and four inches, — almost 
exactly Mr. Sparks' estimate of one hundred feet. 
Thus Fort Necessity was in the shape of the figure repre- 
sented by lines K C, C A, A B, and B E, and the pro- 
jection of the palisades to the brook is represented by 
E D K, E H K, or L W K, (line B E being prolonged 
to L.) Mr. Sparks' drawing of the fort is thus proven 
approximately correct, although Mr. Veech boldly 
asserts that it is "inaccurate," (the quotation being 
copied in the "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania") and 
despite the fact that two volumes treating of the fort, 
"History of Cumberland," and "Frontier Forts of 
Pennsylvania," refuse to give Mr. Sparks' map a place 
in their pages. It is of little practical moment what 
the form of the fort may have been, but it is all out of 
order that a palpably false description should be given 
by those who should be authorities, in preference to 
Mr. Sparks' description which is easily proven to be 
approximately correct. 

54 




Lewis' plan of Fort Necessity : A, B, N, S, M, C. Enlarged 
triangle (containing "K of an acre") : A, B, F. Sparks plan: 
A, B, L, W, K, C. Remains of Eastern embankment: O. 
Variation of Lewis' triangle (given in "P^ort Cumberland"): 
A, B, N, R, P, M, C. Actual shape of Fort Necessity accord- 
ing to last survey : K, C, A. B, E ; the projection to the water 
may have been E, D, K, or E, H, K, or L, W, K. This detail 
is immaterial. The irregular square A, B. K, C, gives the 
general outline of the fortifications, CA, (save where the lane 
crosses it) AB, BE and O being still visible in 1901. 



Relics from Fort Necessity are rare and valuable, 
lor the reason that no other action save the one Battle 
cf Fort Necessity ever took place here. The barrel of 
an old flint-lock musket, a few grape shot, a bullet 
mould and ladle, leaden and iron musket balls, com- 
prise the few silent memorials of the first battle in 
which Saxon blood was shed west of the Allegheny 
Mountains. The swivels, it is said, were taken to Ken- 
tucky to do brave duty there in redeeming the ''dark 
and bloody ground" to civilization. 

But, after all — and more precious than all — our 
study of this historic spot in the Alleghenies and the 
memorials left near it becomes, soon, a study of its 
hero, that young Virginian Colonel. Even the battles 
fought hereabouts seem to have been of little real con- 
sequence, for New France fell, never to rise, with the 
capture of Quebec— "amid the proudest monuments of 
its own glory and on the very spot of its origin 1" 

And it is not of little consequence that there was here 
a brave training school for the future heroes of the Rev- 
olution. For in what did Colonel Washington need 
training more than in the art of manoeuvering a hand- 
ful of ill-equipped, discouraged men? What lesson 
did that youth need more than the lesson that Right 
becomes Might in God's own good time? And here in 
these Allegheny glades we catch the most precious pic- 
tures of the lithe, keen-eyed, sober lad, who, taking his 
lessons of truth and uprightness from his widowed 
mother's knee, his strength hardened by the power of 
the mountain rivers, his heart, now thrilled by the 
songs of the mountain birds, now tempered by a St. 
Piere's hauteur, a Braddock's blind insolence, or the 

55 



prejudiced over-rulings of a Forbes, became the hero 
of Valley Forge and Yorktown, the immeasurable su- 
perior of Piere, Braddock, Forbes, Kaunitz or New- 
castle. 

For consider the record of that older Washington of 
1775 beneath the Cambridge elm. He had capitu- 
lated at Fort Necessity, with the first army he ever 
coirmanded, after the first battle he ever fought I He 
had marched with Braddock' s ill-starred army, in 
which he had no official position whatever until de- 
feat and rout threw upon his shoulders a large share 
of the responsibility of saving the army from com- 
plete annihilation. He had marched with Forbes, 
only to write his Governor begging to be allowed to 
go to England to tell the King the sad story of the 
campaign — of "how grossly his glory and interest and 
the public money, have been prostituted." For the 
past sixteen years he had led a quiet life on his farms. 

Why, now, in 1775, should he have had the unstinted 
confidence of all men, in the hour of his country's 
great crisis? Why should his journey from Mt. Ver- 
non to Cambridge have been a triumphal march? Pro- 
fessor McMaster asserts that the General and the 
President are known to us, "but George Washington is 
an unknown." How untrue this was in 17751 How 
the nation believed it knew the man ! How much of 
reputation he had gained while those by his side lost 
all of theirs ! What a hero — of many defeats 1 What 
a man to fight England to a standstill, after many a 
wary, difficult retreat and dearly fought battle-field I 
Aye — but he had been to school with Gates and Mercer, 
Lewis and Stephen and Gladewin, on that swath of a 
road in the Alleghenies which led to Fort Necessity. 

56 



Half & century ago multitudes were pointed to the 
man Washington in the superb oratory of Edward 
Everett. But how, if not by quoting that memora- 
ble extract from the letter of the youthful surveyor, who 
boasted of earning an honest dubloon a day? Thus, 
the orator declared, he presented to his audience "not 
an ideal hero, wrapped in cloudy generalities and a 
mist of vague panegyric, but the real, identical man." 
And, again, did he not quote that pathetic letter from 
the youth Washington to Governor Dinwiddle from the 
bleeding Virginia border, after Braddock's defeat, that 
his hearers might ''see it all — see the whole man."? 
Was Edward Everett mistaken, are these letters not 
extant today, or are they unread? Surely the latter 
supposition must be the true one if the man Wash- 
ington is being forgotten. 

A candid review of the more popular school histor- 
ies will bring out the fact that the man Washington 
is almost forgotten, in so far as the. General and states- 
man do not portray him. In one of the best known 
school histories there seems to be but one line, of five 
words, which describes the character of Washington. 
Could we not forego, for once, what the Indian chief- 
tain said of his bearing a charmed life at Braddock's 
defeat, to make room for one little reason why Wash- 
ington was "completer in nature" and of "a nobler 
human type" than any and all of the heroes of ro- 
mance? 

Mr. Otis Kendiill Stuart has written a most interest- 
ing account of "The Popular Opinion of Washington" 
as ascertained by inquiry among persons of all ages, 
occupations and conditions. He found that Washing- 
ington washeld tobea "broad," "brave," "thinking," 

57 



"practical," man; an aristocrat, so far as the dignity 
of his position demanded, but willing to "work with 
his hands" and with a credit that was "A II" Also, 
"when he did a thing, he did it," and, if to the ques- 
tion, "Was he a grecit general and statesman?" there 
was some hesitation, to the question, "Was he a great 
man?" the answer was an unhesitating, "Yes." 
. One may hold that such opinions as these have been 
gained from our school histories, but I think they are 
not so much from the histories, as from the popular 
legends of Washington, which, true and false, will 
never be forgotten by the common people, until they 
cease to represent, — not the patient, brave and wary 
general, or the calm, far-seeing statesman, but the 
man — "simple, stainless, and robust character," as 
President Eliot has so beautifully described it, "which 
served with dazzling success the precious cause of hu- 
man progress through liberty, and so stands, like the 
sunlit peak of Matterhorn, unma-tched in all the world." 
The real essence of that "simple, stainless, and ro- 
bust character" is nowhere so clearly seen as in these 
Allegheny vales where Colonel Y/ashiugton first touched 
hands with fortune. Here truly, we may still "see it 
all — see the whole man." 

THE END. 










Colonel Hdasbittflton^ 

By Archer Butler Hulbert. 



^ 



PubllsKed from the Income 
of the Francis G. Butler Pub- 
lication Fur\d of Western 
Reserve University. ^ 1902. 



